Well, okay, I’m not Dr Brochu just yet. There’s a list of minor revisions and some paperwork ahead of me. But on Friday, November 26, 2010, I successfully defended my thesis and passed my doctoral exam, so the days of gut-churning anxiety are finally over.

It’s disturbing how similar this feeling is to what I felt when I finally beat Nethack. (And I thank former fellow Kommunist and Nethacker Eddy for the title of this post.)

Not clear about the connection between Return of the Living Dead Part II and Dawn of the Dead? And still wondering where Day of the Dead 2: Contagium fits into all this? Then you’re probably the very narrow target audience for this diagram I put together!

I have, to my shame and/or pride seen most of the movies listed here, plus a bunch of others I haven’t figured out how to put in yet, and I decided to use my zombie movie knowledge (with some help from wikipedia) to map out the most notable films, series and subgenres. Most of the influences are totally my own take on things, so let me know if you disagree. Let me know, too, what I’m missing and/or got wrong, and it’ll go into the inevitable “Your Guide to Zombie (and related) Movie History, v2.0”.

I love Halloween. Oh sure, it’s a mass-marketed, consumer-driven holiday, but it allows you to be more creative than, say, Easter. Behold the pumpkin heads of Florence and Gillian.

Though unlike last year, I don’t think the kommune decorations will extend beyond our family of jack-o-lanterns. There aren’t even any parties I’m especially interested in going to, which would make 2006 the first in many a year I didn’t slather on the latex and fake blood.

]]>I have no pictures, but trust me, it was greathttps://haikufactory.com/2006/10/09/i-have-no-pictures-but-trust-me-it-was-great/
Tue, 10 Oct 2006 01:26:57 +0000http://haikufactory.com/2006/10/09/i-have-no-pictures-but-trust-me-it-was-great/Kommune thanksgiving aught-six was a smashing success. I mostly organized it, and picked the menu, trying to use foods native to Canada, and everybody pitched in. The biggest task ended up being the half-dozen trips to various stores for all the things I’d forgotten to buy. Attendees? Long-term Kommunist Hendrik, master parabola-polisher Abhi, L’Oreal hair scientist Florence, and Kommune West End rep (and Ericbrother) Tyson.

We had to start around noon, making the stuffing and preparing the turkey, but somehow, it still wasn’t until 2 PM that the bird went in the oven. For six hours (this is an 8 kilo bird we’re talkin’ about). Then it was a matter of preparing all the sides and sauces and timing everything so that it would all be ready simultaneously. Or at least, within the same hour. There was a slight burnage of the butternut squash, and we ended up with approximately a gallon of cranberry relish, but overall, I’d call it a resounding success. We ate til we could eat no more, drank multiple bottles of wine, and discussed the state of international education and the Navier-Stokes equations. And then ate pie. And then everybody watched The Office, except that I can’t drink red wine and stay conscious for long, so I passed out and missed it.

Many pictures were taken, but not by me. But hopefully, somebody will put some on Flickr, and I’ll post ’em here.